I woke up at 4:00 and Ron at 4:30. Yesterday we woke up at 3:30. I guess
it is getting better but we have a ways to go before we have adjusted to
the time change here. After breakfast I decided to climb stairs to extend
my exercise program as there is no gym in our hotel. I climbed two flights
and was completely winded and my heart was racing. We are at 7,000 ft.
here and let me tell you, it ain't at all like home! Later in the morning
the elevator was not working so twice I climbed to the 7th floor where our
room is. Needless to say I took several breaks, resting in between floors.
God, I feel healthy!
Today the driver from the ICMA project was supposed to pick us up at the
hotel at 8:15 because we were to attend an orientation at the US Embassy.
After several calls he arrived at 8:55. Welcome to Ethiopian time. We
decided to try again tomorrow. I wanted to explore some of the shops
mentioned in the tour book. First I walked to the Ethiopian Map Authority
to get what is considered the best map of Addis. It took me about 20
minutes to get there, walking uphill most of the way. After going through
security, I discovered they are out of the maps. Great.
Next I made my way over to what is called 'central' Addis. You should know
there is no central here as the town is quite spread out with no central
or downtown area. There are about three main commercial/shopping areas. By
this time I had 'acquired' a 'student' who followed me for the next 20
minutes. Fortunately I read the tour books before I arrived and the books
forewarned me about the so called students. These are young (20-27) year
old men who befriend you and are quite nice and follow you around making
polite conversation and at some point ask for money or ask you to buy them
something like a book for their studies or something to drink. When Ron
and I walked around on Sunday we had a fellow follow us for quite awhile.
They aren't easy to ditch. I peeled off at some point. I found the shops I
was looking for and was pleased with the quality and prices. There were
numerous street vendors who came up to me and asked me to buy their wares.
I declined. I prefer the shops where I don't have to barter. Today I was
mostly on a look and see mission.
I stopped by a place called Hope Enterprises to purchase a booklet of meal
tickets. Instead of giving beggars money, I can now give them meal
tickets. A book of eight tickets cost $0.40 so I bought five booklets.
Last of the big spenders. I went through two books pretty quickly as Addis
has many beggars: very young children, young mothers, lepers, physically
disabled, and the elderly. By now I was on my third student and he
followed me forever. As we were walking along I said "I never give
students any money" just so I was clear. Of course when I got back to the
hotel he said he had walked a long distance and was thirsty and wanted me
to buy him a drink. I reminded him of our earlier conversation and told
him I didn't ask him to go with me. It had been his choice. Needless to
say he was disappointed. I need to develop a script to discourage them
from the minute they approach me. It is tiresome. So I left at 10:30 and
got back at 4:00. Oy, my feet hurt.
Ron and I have lost weight since arriving. We have been unable to find
good restaurants. The hotel is quite mediocre. We now have breakfast in
our room every other day to break the monotony of the meal. I have
granola, coffee and juice in the room. Oddly enough the breakfast
downstairs was the best yet today. There are a lot of staff members in the
dining room. They stand around and occasionally do something, like
replenish the coffee when you tell them it is out. Today they had one
sugar bowl out for the entire room. So when you asked for sugar, one of
them would look for the sugar bowl and bring it to your table. We couldn't
figure out why they just didn't put it by the coffee pot and milk???? Ah
Americans are so efficient. The good news is I found a good restaurant at
lunch. I am so excited. Last night we tried a new place near our hotel and
it was awful. The bread (sort of like fresh pita) and the cardamom rice
were great but the mystery meat was very chewy and flavorless. We barely
touched it. The restaurant was recommended in the tour book. Because
Ethiopia isn't a hot tourist spot, the two tour books we have really cater
to back packers so the recommendations are often cheap, filling food that
isn't particularly tasty. We have totally avoided any of their
recommendations where they state "not particularly good but filling".
Spare me!
I may have mentioned that our hotel is pretty isolated so eating will
require a long walk or a taxi. We ate at the Sheraton once and it was
good. We can try the Hilton. There are supposed to be some good Indian
restaurants here. Ethiopians loved to eat raw minced meat. YUCK! We eat a
vegetarian diet mostly so you can imagine how grossed out I am about raw
meat! Anyway, this is served on injera, a large, moist sourdough pancake
made from tef, a grain that has more protein, iron, and calcium than
wheat. The Orthodox Christians here fast on Wednesdays and Fridays so no
meat on those days. Maybe we will try the traditional meals on the veggie
days.
Today on my walking to town and back, I saw many small herds of goats.
Goat is eaten here as is lamb, chicken and beef. I am not sure about pork.
Most of the women cover their head with a white cotton gauzy shawl. The
two main religions are Orthodox Christians and Muslims, 45/35%
respectively. Faith is an extremely important part of an Ethiopian's life.
Orthodox Christians bring religion into everyday conversation as much as
their Muslim counterparts. We certainly found this to be true with the
'students' we have met.
Pubic transportation: there are buses that are crammed beyond belief, and
mini buses. They are a small van with four or more rows of seats and are
everywhere. They ride down the road picking up passengers as they go. A
man leans out the window and shouts the route. They also seem to be
packed. I will walk or use cabs. I was told that petrol is $1+. a liter
here. That makes it close to US prices.
June 17, 2008
We managed to sleep until the alarm went off at 6:30. Now that is
progress. Last night we tired another recommended restaurant. We had to
take a taxi as it was too far away to walk. It was housed the fuselage of
an old plane. I ordered the 'national dish, a rich, oily tomato based
sauce with a small of chicken served on top of injera, the thin pancake.
It was quite good. Ron had roasted chicken and it was somewhat dry but at
least this meal was edible!
This morning our driver was on time and we went to the US Embassy for a
security orientation. A rather glum woman gave the orientation to the two
of us. It was really about how to avoid any problems here. There is no
violent crime to speak of here, mostly some pick pockets and purse
snatchers. She recommended staying away from the local market which is
supposed to be the largest in Africa. Our tour books said it s a prime
place for the above mentioned crimes. Natasha said the merchandise was
'crap'. Needless to say I wasn't particularly interested before but now
have no desire to go there.
No comments:
Post a Comment